Schoenen's Offers To Buy Store From City

Schoenen Supermarkets has offered to purchase the building it leases from the Bethlehem Redevelopment Authority at 23 E. Broad St. for $200,000.

Authority Executive Director John Rohal said yesterday he would recommend approval of the sale to the authority board. City Council approval will be required before the transaction occurs, he said.

The Schoenen family of Bethlehem opened the Broad Street location in June 1975 after the A&P chain had closed its store there.

The authority obtained the building and other properties in the area in the 1970s as part of the city's urban renewal plan, which originally called for tearing down most of the buildings for replacement. But, as the plan evolved, the wholesale demolition along Broad Street stopped at New Street. Some structures, such as the former Sears store at 44 E. Broad St., were renovated rather than razed.

Rohal said there is no longer a reason for the authority to continue owning such properties. The former Sears building was sold to the March Development Corp. in 1984 for $315,000 and converted to the Broad Street Business Center, which opened last June.

Rohal said the city was happy when the Schoenens, who continue to operate their original market at 327 Woodlawn Ave., Bethlehem, took over the building 11 years ago, because it was felt the population of the area, including many older people, could benefit from a supermarket within walking distance. That sentiment has not changed, he said yesterday.

"We're very happy to have a food market there. I think it's a positive thing for the downtown," Rohal said.